Saturday, September 29, 2007

Crazy Thought of the Day

This happens sometimes. I have crazy thoughts. Here's one:

If people are made up mostly of water and the amount of water on the planet is static, will human overpopulation cause drought?

Wait, is the amount of water on the planet static? I learned that from Mr. Price in Jr. High or High School, and he was a hack.

Word of the Day

Archetype.

According to Dictionary.com, Archetype means:
1. the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.
2. (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.

We experienced an archetype earlier this morning in our house, one of those collectively inherited unconscious ideas, shortly after I made waffles for the boys. Devin, based on the archetypal notion that if your brother has it, it must be better than what you have, insisted that he wanted Trevor's waffle. Not realizing an archetypal idea was at play in our household, I switched the waffles. Of course, this accomplished nothing because of the aforementioned archetypal idea that his brother's waffle is better than the waffle in front of him.

Archetype or not, I tuned him out after the waffle switch failed, and ultimately someone (it may have been Socks) ate that dadgum waffle.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

My new obsession

I have a new obsession.

I think I'm becoming "green." It happened by accident. We got a Prius, not so much for the gas mileage or the reduced emissions, but for the gadgets. But, it does get good gas mileage and has reduced emissions. For a few months awhile back, I constantly thought of ways of harnessing energy that otherwise doesn't get used. My biggest idea was somehow harnessing the energy of a swing at a playground for some good use. But, I don't know how to implement this, and eventually I stopped daydreaming about how to capture energy. Then we moved away from the big city and we both work from home, and I only drive my car about once a week. Do you know that I will use a papertowel two or three times before I throw it away? A little piece of me dies when a papertowel is thrown away after just one use. It's really weird. I'm not sure where this obsession came from. The only thing I can think of is the boys' school. I have to make their lunches, and it is supposed to be a trashless lunch, and that hasn't been all that difficult, so I've started trying to make other things trashless. One day, I may give up papertowels entirely, but not likely any time soon.

It's not about global warming. I think I should try to reduce, reuse and recycle. I want to conserve our natural resources, and I don't want to waste energy on landfills. I think these are really good things to work towards. But, not to prevent global warming, because I'm not sure global warming is real, and even it is, I'm not sure humans are the reasons for the warming. I just don't want to be guilted into going green. Could the dinosaurs have prevented the events that led to their extinction? Not likely. I don't think it's necessarily correct to think that we can prevent our own extinction, either.

My point is if I'm going green, it's not because of Al Gore and the attempt the media is making to scare me about the future of our world. It's because I think it's the right thing to do. It's because I think if I use less, there will be more for people in Africa whose babies die because they can't get clean water to drink. I wash my clothes in gloriously clean water. Diarrhea kills babies in Africa because their water is so treacherous. I guess I do feel guilty about that. If I use less and waste less energy, the world will be a better place for me and my family and maybe families all over the world. I guess that's where this obsession is coming from.

I'm not sure that people really know this about me, and I'm not very good at it, yet. So, I wanted to share.

Specifically, I wanted to share this:
Free Cycle
Sign up here to find a group in your area that is working to clean out their garages without filling up the landfills. You can also request things you may need here. It's sort of a grass roots movement to make the world a better place. And, oh, some of the messages make me laugh. I got this one just today:
"...I have a few items to offer.

1. A duck cookie jar. I believe it is a duck, although others have
thought it was a goose. In any case, it is a cookie jar, but not really
good for storing cookies unless you like them soft and stale. I kept tea
bags in it...."

Isn't that funny? It's been the highlight of my morning.

So...

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. It can't hurt...

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Saving the day and Frogs, 2 Stories for the price of one.

Every day starts with coffee in our house. We really like coffee. After all, every day in our house starts with coffee.

But, our coffee pot is no one step jobby. Not at all. You have to fill it with water, make sure the carafe is empty, dump the old grinds, put in a new filter, move the filter basket over the grinder side, then push a button to grind the coffee (at which time, any child within earshot covers his ears and screams "TOO LOUD" while running from the kitchen area.)

It's a lot of steps and since every day starts with coffee, these steps have to be performed before the day has really even started. This morning, we forgot one crucial step. We left out the filter. A funny thing happened. The hot water flowed through the grinds causing them to swell and blocking the exit from which the fresh brewed coffee would normally flow. So, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary at first. It even smelled good. But, then, hot water mixed with coffee started flowing out of the top of the filter basket.

And, that is when Trevor stepped in.

"Mom, the coffee pot, the coffee pot!"

I pushed the power button and yelled for the computer guy, not certain that turning it off would accomplish much. When the computer guy took over the clean up phase, I praised Trevor for saving the day! It would have been such a HUGE mess if he hadn't spoken up when he did. I called him a coffee hero. It made him so very proud. He kept a close eye on the computer guy as he cleaned up the mess. "Let me see, Let me see." He proclaimed, "I saved the day, didn't I, Dad?" Devin ran over, too, wanting to see the averted crisis and claiming he saved the day, too. I let him be the hero of not spilling his milk, and he was happy.

And, then we made a new and different pot of coffee and our day began in earnest.


*****************

Bonus:
Trevor is taking a French class at his Montessori School. His first lesson was today. Funny thing about Trevor, whenever I ask him what he learned in school today, he always tells me, "Nothing." And, then, if ice pops were involved, he will tell me what color his ice pop was and show me his tongue.

On Monday, I thought his first lesson was on Monday, so I asked him if he learned any French. He tried to tell me that he didn't learn any French that day. But since he has a history of telling me that he learned nothing at school, I didn't believe him. So, I pressed on. "What French words did you learn? Au Revoir? Bon Jour?"

"Oh, yeah. Bon Jour, Bon Jour! I know Bon Jour."

"Oh, did you learn that in your French lesson?" I asked, vindicated.

"No, I learned it in Flushed Away. The frogs said it."

"Oh." Me. Defeated. The frogs had won. His first French lesson is today, Wednesday. Not Monday.

Bon Jour!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Monster Mom

Sunday evening, I sat in the office perusing various sordid sites on the internet. As I sat innocently reading about crime in Buffalo, New York, Devin told me that I looked like a monster. I'm sure it the eerie glow from the laptop reflecting off my face that caused him to make this observation. I didn't respond to him saying that I looked like a monster. It's not something I really want to encourage my children to comment on, right? But, eventually, he said, "You look like a Monster, Mommy. Say Thank you, Mommy. Say Thank You."

So, I said Thank You. Thank You...

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Superman Returns

I watched Superman Returns last night with the boys. Trevor and Devin are both into Superhero types. When they play together, Trevor always try to make Devin the bad guy so that he can be the good guy, and Devin always resists. "I'm not the bad guy!" He says.

The movie was long, but pretty well done. At one point, Trevor did ask if it was too violent for him. It was loud, but it wasn't human to human violent, or even human to superhuman violent.

Near the beginning of the movie, Superman Returns and immediately saves Lois Lane. She was on an airplane that was spiralling towards a baseball field. Superman flew to the nose of the plan and used his strength to stop the plane from crashing and burning then gently set it on the ground. Just when it looked like Superman may get crushed, Trevor stuck his hands in the air as if he were pushing on that plane himself and said, "OH, SUPERMAN!" He was stressing out.

He also asked at least 80 questions, to which I knew a lot of the answers because of the days when Christopher Reeve was Superman (plus, I'm a really good guesser, just like Trevor.) He snuggled in and covered his eyes during the tense moments. Then he went to bed without a fight.

It was a good movie for a couple of budding comic book superhero fans.

Friday, September 21, 2007

I'm a good mommy

Devin just walked up to me and asked for some chocolate milk. I'm in the office in my office chair with wheels. So, I said, "Yes, you can have some chocolate milk, but you need to scoot back so that I don't run over your toes."

"ok," he said.

"Aren't I a good mommy for not running over your toes?"

"Yes," he affirmed.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He's so polite and his toes are so not smashed because I'm a good mommy.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Osage County

Our travels took us to Osage County, OK, where I grew up. I was surprised when the Computer Guy asked me to take pictures of the County Road between my parents' house and my grandma's house. I thought the beauty of the prairies, rolling hills, and slow moving creeks was lost to all but its native sons and daughters. I was happy to find out otherwise. I have a gazillion pics of cousins I haven't seen in decades and the children of said cousins. But, I want to take a moment to share Osage County.


This was taken from Low Water Bridge over Birch Creek (I think it's Birch Creek.)


Same creek, same bridge, other direction. I remember when some of those rocks in the water were ledges above the water.


Red Ants attacked my legs on that bit of red dirt when I was a kid. At least, I think that's my memory. Does anyone else want to claim it?


This is the view right before the other county road that heads back towards 11. This has always been my favorite view in Osage County. I may try to photo-shop it. You need to look beyond the grass in the foreground at the panoramic view in the background.


Oh, there it is...


At the bottom of this hill is Low Water Bridge.


The Computer Guy took this one. He wanted to get a shot of the landscape dotted with oil pumps. I only saw two in real life. There are four (maybe 5) in the picture!

Here's the full size for you to explore on your own:
Dotting the landscape


Here's the last bit of County Road before Wynona. Actually, this is the short cut. The one that used to have a belly buster.


Another shot of Birch Creek from Low Water Bridge.

There really is no place like home...

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Travelling Bone

The Family and I have been travelling for the last little bit of forever. We're still travelling. I'm still in the car. I want to be home. We're not too far from home. The navigation system says that we're only 116 miles from home. Two hours and 58 minutes. I've forgotten what home looks like. We'll be there soon, I hope...

We went to the Jersey Shore. I never really thought much of New Jersey before I went there. But, the beach was very nice. The ocean was salty. Transitions from one body of water to another was terribly distressing to Trevor. He loved the ocean, and he loved the pool, and he didn't want to leave either, ever, not even for the other one. Devin loved the sand, and he kept acting like one of those little birds who give themselves dust baths. Unlike the birds, though, Devin's sand baths just left him covered in sand and dirtier than ever.

For fun and excitement, we stopped at an Atlantic City Casino for lunch on the way out of town. I found 100 bucks on the floor. I looked around for some desperate person and stuck it in my pocket when no one seemed to be missing the money. That was cool.

Then, we drove and drove and drove. For three days we drove. We stopped in Kansas City at a Casino for fun and excitement, and I only lost 35 of that 100 bucks I found in that Atlantic City Casino.

We finally made it to Oklahoma for a fabulous fish fry. Here are some funnies committed along the way...

Logan, my niece, said good-bye to her cousin, Treasure (Trevor.) I told him to say good-bye to his cousin, Precious. He did that, but then he was really embarrassed by it.

Devin climbed on a bench in our hotel room, telling me, "Mom, I can climb on this table." I asked, "You can?" to which he responded, "OK, if you say so!!"

Daddy and I told the boys that driving at night was a little treacherous because of truck drivers, inexperienced drivers, and the potential for encountering drunk drivers. Trevor didn't know what a drunk driver was, so he asked, and we explained it to him. People who had too much to drink at the bar and then tried to drive their cars home.

The next morning, we heard Trevor explaining to Devin about the strunkards who like to drive at night and how that was bad. I like the way he learns life lessons.

Later in the trip, we stopped at the Drury Inn for the night. They offer free evening beverages (Cocktails!) We each had our beverages and got a little tipsy. Just a little. Trevor understood us to be a little strunkled after that. So, we walked to dinner. Driving strunk would have been pretty bad after all that he had learned.

And, now, we are 104 miles from home. Two hours and 36 minutes. Trevor has lost his toy boat for hitting Devin with it. Devin is talking, talking, talking. I hope they take a nap. That would be nice.

Nap, nap, nap. Home, home, home. I miss my cat, bed, couch, garage, and my pink toilet...

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Continued...

I asked Trevor why he was so uncomfortable with his friend writing I love you. I told him that it is OK to love your friends.

He said, "I do love M."

Then he said, "Actually, I don't love her. I just like the way she looks."

Then, he looked at me. I could tell his face ached from thinking about this. So, I dropped it. And M's letter is in the mail today.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

OMG! That's so sweet!

The most precious thing ever arrived in the mail yesterday. It melted my heart and caused a big knot to form in my throat because it was the sweetest thing ever. Do you want to see it? Here it is:


With a bonus:


This is from Trevor's good friend from where we lived before we moved here. He's known her as long as he can remember, and she's known him since she was six months old when he was born. They are pretty good friends. And, just recently, I think his good friend suggested to her mom that she would like to have a play date with Trevor. And, she was upset when she was reminded we had moved far, far away.

Her good mom suggested that writing a letter might make her feel better, and two days later, my heart burst a little.

When I read the note to Trevor, he blushed. He seriously blushed. But, the letter made him feel very good. We immediately wrote a letter back to his friend. He dictated his letter to me. We haven't sent it, yet. He invites her over to a play date and on vacation with us. We're not sure that's going to go over so well with her parents. Before we started writing, he said with a sheepish little self-conscious grin that he wouldn't be saying any of that "I love you" stuff.

When did this happen? When did my soon to be 5 year old get shy around girls and and uncomfortable with love?

Ah, well. I stand beside my title. OMG! That's so sweet...